Veil of Maya - [id] (2010)

Artist: Veil of Maya
Album: [id]
Date Released: April 6, 2010
Genre: Deathcore/Technical Death Metal

Album Review:

This is easily the shortest LP i've ever listened to. Eleven tracks...29:10 total playing time. And it's also one of the most boring albums for a tech death band. Were the essential components there? Let's see...fast double bass and blast beats? Check, with songs like Dark Passenger and Resistance showing some nice drumming virtuoso from Sam Applebaum. Intricate guitar lines? Check, and there's the standard vocalist-with-lead-guitar for death metal seen here as well with Marc Ukobo. Deep growling vocals? Check, and there was also higher pitched screaming as well.

So what's the problem? To be honest, i'm not sure. I've listened through it several times, and it has grown on me, but it's grown kind of like the mold sitting in my roommate's trashcan, not really like a masterpiece of music does. One could attribute the album's weakness with failure to find good album flow, failure to give emotion and strength to songs (or mismatched emotion; as I will explain, many songs have forlorn music coupled with explosive and angsty vocals), or intense repetition. But i'm just rambling now. However, I can appreciate the band's great talent, shown moreso here than their previous releases. For metal fans, i'd say that if you must listen to this album, stream it on Grooveshark, or heck, just torrent this baby, it can't be that big of a download anyway.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Song-by-song:

[id]: who makes a title track the 43 second intro to an album? It just seemed weird to me. Anyhow, this intro starts with a haunting feel, progressively getting heavier and flows right into Unbreakable.

Unbreakable: this song is actually one of my favorites. I give VoM props for the flow of the first two songs. This song has a neat, albeit repetitive riff interspersed throughout. There's something akin to a breakdown around the 50 second mark.

Dark Passenger: This song has a really boring riff in the back, despite the technicals that take too long to come in. The drums, if given an ear, sound very good, but otherwise this one I didn't like too much.

The Higler: I had to Google what a Higler was. It is a person who sells provisionals from door to door. You learn something new every day I guess. This song has some complicated riffs, and an even more complex drum pattern. This is one of the better songsm even if that doesn't say much.

Martyrs: An interlude that I think could have made for a better intro track than [id]. But like I always say, you get what you get.

Resistance: Resembling Meshuggah-like breakdowns in between, this song has a lilting guitar riff, giving this song a sad tone rather than what I think should be an angry tone to fit the name "Resistance"? Just my thoughts...

Circle: Another minute-long interlude, which they could pull off if their other songs were longer and filled with some rich technicality, meaningful choruses, and heck, i'll take guitar solos.

Mowgli: Like resistance, Veil has trouble getting a tone other than sad, mourning, or reposed. All their riffs seem calm and soothing, very different from other technical death bands like The Faceless or Obscura.

Namaste: This song, however, explodes with a dissonant tone, and is more edgy than the others. For the first 30 seconds anyway. If they stuck with the intro pattern, they wouldn't have gone wrong. The breakdowns almost redeem its sad state, otherwise, this one could be easily skipped.

Conquer: More sad guitar riffs. The bass line I could hear also was using a minor scale, and it just didn't fit the growling and screaming. In fact, i can't get a grasp on the vocals without matching music. That's my opinion anyways.

Codex: The ending track. Same problem as most of the tracks. Repetition, mismatched emotion, etc. But the intro did fit what would be an ending track for this confusing album. Thank God it was just 29 minutes long...